Ten years later, the Continental Congress on Social Innovation had evolved into a Global Alliance for Human Development, coordinating community experiments across multiple continents and cultural traditions. The Dustmere Principles—individual autonomy, systematic accountability, and continuous development in service of human welfare—had become foundational concepts for social innovation throughout the known world.
In Lower Ashmark, now recognized as the birthplace of systematic social reform, children learned about the street orphan who had become a catalyst for worldwide transformation. But they also learned that his story was just one chapter in a continuing narrative that they themselves would help write.
The beginning after the darkness had indeed proven endless, as each generation discovered new possibilities for human flourishing while building on foundations established by those who came before.
And in small communities and great cities throughout the world, people continued the work of creating conditions where everyone could build better lives through their own efforts, knowing that individual actions guided by principle and sustained by commitment could indeed change the world.